Apple negotiating nine-figure publisher deals to power Siri AI

Apple ↘ 0.87% is negotiating multiyear content licensing deals with publishers to feed current news and information into its overhauled AI-powered Siri voice assistant, the Wall Street Journal News Corp ↗ 0.03% reported on Wednesday.wsj+1

The iPhone maker has approached publishers in recent months with a proposal that would grant Siri access to up-to-date content as part of a broader upgrade to the assistant expected to launch later this year. Apple has discussed allocating a budget in the nine-figure range for the payments, according to people familiar with the matter.investing+3

A Pay-as-Used Model

Unlike the guaranteed-fee licensing structures that have become standard between AI companies and news organizations, Apple has proposed a variable compensation plan in which publishers would receive payments only when their content is actually used to power a Siri response. The structure shifts more financial risk onto publishers but could reward outlets whose material proves most useful to the assistant's underlying AI system.investinglive+1

The discussions come as publishers weigh whether to fight AI companies in court or license their content to them. The New York Times is currently suing OpenAI and Microsoft ↘ 2.26% over alleged unauthorized use of its work to train AI models, while publishers including News Corp and Axel Springer have struck content deals with the maker of ChatGPT. Reddit ↘ 1.75% has taken both approaches, licensing its content to Google Alphabet Inc. ↘ 0.18% while suing Anthropic and Perplexity over alleged unauthorized scraping.9to5mac

Building on Existing Relationships

Apple is not new to paying for publisher content. The company has operated its Apple News+ subscription service since 2019 and has previously struck deals that included rights to use publishers' material for AI training. The proposed Siri-focused agreements would extend those relationships into live, current-events content — a category that carries particular value for an AI assistant aiming to answer real-time questions accurately.investinglive+1

Apple declined to comment on the discussions. The push comes after years of criticism over Siri's limited functionality relative to rival AI products, with the company recently announcing a major upgrade intended to weave AI more deeply into its devices.9to5mac+2